caramelized onion

Bacon Wrapped Meatloaf with Caramelized Onions

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The more I cook, the more I realize how much I absolutely love cooking comfort food.  And eating comfort food.  I really love eating comfort food.  And I’ve been doing a lot of it lately. This meatloaf has been one of our favorites.

baconmeatloaf

Covering your dinner with bacon can’t be a bad thing.  This meatloaf is covered in 10 strips of bacon which give it great flavor and create a great slicing guide.  I got this recipe from The Pioneer Woman, my go-to for comfort food.  Try her pot roast!  It makes me smile just thinking about it.  The only change I made to this meatloaf was to add some caramelized onion.

I’ve made this twice now.  The first time I followed the recipe exactly, but felt that the bacon was kind of soggy.  So the next time I baked the meatloaf without the sauce at the beginning of the cooking time at an attempt to crisp it up a little before putting the sauce on.  I think it was better, not so much that I could definitely tell a difference but enough that I will do it that way in the future.  Either way the bacon is a great addition and makes this meatloaf spectacular.  It would still be good without the bacon, so leave it out if you must.

I don’t have a roasting pan.  Not sure why.  I should probably get one.  So I baked the meatloaf on a shallow baking pan lined with parchment.  It releases a lot of juice, so I soaked it up with paper towels after it came out of the oven.  I can see why a roasting pan would be helpful, but don’t fret if you don’t have one.  You don’t need it.

This would easily feed 8 people, possibly 10.  Ben and I can easily make 3 meals out of it.  Sliced for dinner the first night, then meatloaf sandwiches for lunch or dinner a couple of times.  Few things can beat a meatloaf sandwich on some soft white bread.  Enjoy!

Bacon Wrapped Meatloaf with Caramelized Onions

From The Pioneer Woman

Ingredients

Meatloaf

  • 1 medium yellow onion, halved and sliced thin
  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • 1 cup milk
  • 6 slices white bread
  • 2 pounds ground beef (I used 1 pound of 85/15 and 1 pound of 93/7)
  • 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
  • 1/4 teaspoon seasoned salt
  • 3/4 teaspoons salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 1/3 cup minced Italian parsley
  • 4 whole eggs, beaten
  • 10 slices Thin/regular Bacon

Sauce

  • 1 to 1 1/2 cups ketchup
  • 1/4 to 1/3 cup brown Sugar
  • 1 teaspoon dry mustard

Directions

  1. Caramelize the onion: Heat 1 tablespoon of butter and drizzle of olive oil over medium heat in a skillet.  Add the sliced onion and stir the onion to coat with butter.  Sprinkle with kosher salt and a generous pinch of sugar.  Let cook, stirring occasionally and monitoring the heat so the onions do not burn, 10-15 minutes.  Onions should be brown and soft.  If the onions begin to crisp and burn and there is no moisture left in the pan, add a few teaspoons of water.  Remove from the pan from the heat and let cool.
  2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pour milk over the bread slices. Allow it to soak in for several minutes.
  3. Place the ground beef, milk-soaked bread, onion, Parmesan, seasoned salt, salt, black pepper, and parsley in a large mixing bowl. Pour in beaten eggs.
  4. With clean hands, mix the ingredients until well combined. Form the mixture into a loaf shape on a broiler pan, which will allow the fat to drain. (Line the bottom of the pan with foil to avoid a big mess!)
  5. Lay bacon slices over the top, tucking them underneath the meatloaf.
  6. Cook meatloaf for 15 minutes.
  7. While the meatloaf is cooking, make the sauce: stir together ketchup, brown sugar and mustard in a mixing bowl. Pour 1/3 of the mixture over the top of the bacon. Spread with a spoon.
  8. Bake for 30 minutes, then pour another 1/3 of the sauce over the top. Bake for another 15 minutes. Slice and serve with remaining sauce.

 

Butternut Squash, Spinach, Caramelized Onion & Goat Cheese Pizza

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I made this in December, back when butternut squash was a more appropriate and more seasonal ingredient but life gets ahead of me sometimes (and by that I mean ALL the time) so it is just now making its way onto the blog.  So bookmark for the fall, or ignore all that stuff you hear about seasonal eating and make it anyway!

This was one tasty pizza.  With all these yummy ingredients, how could it not be?  I love every single thing on top of this pizza on its own and together they are just perfect.

I found this recipe in my search for vegetarian dinner options on epicurious.  If you or someone you’re cooking for needs some meat, add some crumbled bacon for some meaty flavor and a nice crunch.  This really is a great vegetarian pizza with such terrific flavors that you won’t miss the meat, or at least I didn’t.

The trick to making this without finding yourself with an incredibly messy and hot kitchen at the end of the day is to prep all your vegetables earlier in the day and refrigerate them.  Roast the squash, caramelize the onions and saute the spinach all before lunchtime (or the night before if you’re doing this on a work day) store them all in separate tupperware or plastic bags and they’re ready to go on the pizza for dinner.  Prepping has become the key to dinnertime sanity for me.  And it’s smart for working folks, stay at home parents or people who just despise cleaning a bazillion pots and pans after having enjoyed their meal.

I used a store bought pizza dough ball (you can sometimes find these in the freezer section of your grocery store) but making your own is not too hard if you plan ahead.  I used this recipe for pizza dough not too long ago and it was easy to make, easy to work with and tasted great.  I followed the instructions up to the baking.  Instead of pre-baking and freezing my crusts, I divided the dough into 4 balls (keep it in one ball for one large pizza), placed them on a greased baking sheet, covered lightly with a piece of plastic wrap sprayed with non-stick cooking spray and put the pan in the fridge until I needed them (about 4 hours).  When I was ready, I formed them into crusts, topped them and baked them.  Once you get the hang of it, pizza dough at home is really easy.  If, like me, you didn’t have the foresight this time around to make your own dough, a frozen one is good.  Make sure to thaw it out overnight in the fridge, or on the counter for a few hours in its original packaging so it doesn’t dry out.

When I made this pizza I had a large squash, so I cubed the entire thing (probably ended up with 4 cups) and roasted it all.  You can use any leftovers tossed with some cooked pasta and goat cheese for a simple vegetarian pasta dinner, or you can use it at meal time for your toddler (which is the direction I chose to go).  The instructions below are for roasting just 2 cups, so if you plan to roast all your squash just increase the oil and seasonings.  It might also take more time to get a good roasted color if your pan is more crowded, so stir the squash and check them for tenderness every so often after the 25 minutes of cooking time recommended below.

My biggest problem with pizza is getting it from the pizza peel or cookie sheet onto the stone in the oven.  Here is a sweet and humorous home video (not my own) that shows you how to do it.  The trick is to do it quickly and use enough corn meal so it slides easily off the peel.

Note:  You may not use all of the onions or spinach.  Just add to the pizza what looks good to you.  Enjoy!

Butternut Squash, Spinach, Caramelized Onion and Goat Cheese Pizza

From epicurious.com

Ingredients

  • 2 cups cubed butternut squash
  • 1 6-ounce bag of baby spinach
  • 1 medium sized yellow or red onion, halved and thinly sliced
  • 6 ounces of goat cheese
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
  • 1 clove garlic, chopped
  • salt and pepper
  • olive oil
  • corn meal
  • 1 ball of prepared pizza dough, thawed if frozen
Directions
  1. Roast the Squash:  Heat oven to 400°F.  Toss cubed squash with a drizzle of olive oil just so it is lightly coated, 1/4 teaspoon of salt and 1/8 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper.  Spread out onto a rimmed baking sheet and roast for 25 minutes until squash is tender and lightly browned, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking and to brown squash more evenly.  Set aside or cool and put in a container and into the fridge if you’re baking the pizzas later in the day.
  2. Saute the Spinach:  Heat 1 teaspoon of oil in a medium skillet over medium heat.  Add a teaspoon of chopped garlic, let cook for 30 seconds, then add spinach and a pinch of salt.  Saute, stirring occasionally, until spinach is wilted down and most of the liquid has evaporated, 8-10 minutes.  Spread a few paper towels on a plate and pour the spinach onto the towels to drain some of the liquid.  Set aside or refrigerate in a container.
  3. Caramelize the Onions:  Heat a medium skillet over medium high heat with 1 tablespoon of olive oil.  Add onions, 1/4 teaspoon of salt and 1/8 teaspoon black pepper.  Cook, stirring, for 10 minutes until onions are light brown.  Add 2 tablespoons of water and cook an additional 5 minutes.  Onions should be very soft and brown in color.  Set aside or refrigerate.
  4. Heat oven to 450°F and heat your pizza stone or you can use the back of a cookie sheet, but don’t preheat the cookie sheet.
  5. Take your pizza dough and either roll it out on a floured surface using a rolling pin or use your hands to stretch it out into a round.  You should have either a 15 inch circle or a 10 by 16 inch rectangle.  Lay your dough on a pizza peel or the back of a cookie sheet coated with corn meal.
  6. Brush olive oil on the outer edges of the crust, then top the pizza with the squash, spinach, onions, crumbles of goat cheese and thyme.  Transfer pizza to pizza stone or place cookie sheet in the oven and bake for 10-12 minutes until cheese is melted and crust is lightly browned.